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The Hoosiers’ NCAA Tournament hopes, and most of its season, essentially ended Wednesday night with a 10-point loss to Nebraska. Go ahead and use Noah Vonleh’s absence as an excuse, but it would be a weak one. Nebraska is greatly improved under Tim Miles, my choice as Big Ten Coach of the Year, but the Huskers are still a poor road team, and shouldn’t have been able to come into Assembly Hall on Senior Night and spank the Hoosiers.

The obituary on this season will read: They were too young, chronologically young and young-minded. They didn’t have any long-range shooters. They were one of the most turnover prone teams in the country. Their half-court offense was too often stagnant. Chalk this one up as one of IU’s more forgettable and frustrating seasons.

• The Pacers are in a free fall.

OK, that’s an overstatement. After starting 33-7, they’re 13-8 in their last 21 games, which is still pretty good, but nothing approaching the torrid pace they set early in the season.

My guess is the conventional wisdom will be that they didn’t pace themselves out of the gate, they came out too quickly, but that’s weak analysis. It’s not like Frank Vogel was playing his starters ridiculous minutes on the way to 16-1 and 33-7.

What we’re seeing here is a team that’s in a bit of a funk, but is not in any trouble. Nine of the next 13 games are on the road, so this might get worse before it gets better, but I blame this on fatigue and general ennui. It’s a long, long, tough season. Guys lose their edge and their legs. It happens. In the end, they’ll still win 60-plus games, still have the first or second seed. No worries.

• The debate over the use of the n-word in football is more generational than it is racial.

Older black men and women still recall the civil rights battles and the fight to eradicate the n-word from the vernacular. Young black men and women have grown up using the n-word as a term of endearment, with the word being used freely in popular culture.

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As an older white guy, I’d rather the word was expunged from the vocabulary altogether — I’ve never said it, never even thought it. But I also realize I am neither black nor 20 years old, and didn’t grow up in a world where the n-word was used as anything other than the most venal possible slur.

If the NFL’s culture police thinks it can run the n-word out of the league, it’s not only crazy, it’s misguided in its efforts. On one level, I give them credit for trying to take the lead on this issue, but I think this is a losing effort and a general waste of time — along with the fact it’s virtually unenforceable.

If you want a smart, alternative take on all this, google Lenny Bruce’s bit about n-words and other ethnic and racial slurs, in which he makes the point that if you use those words with alacrity, it strips them of their power to offend. You’ll see what I mean.

• And then there’s Bedford-North Lawrence.

It’s 2014 and we’re wearing gorilla suits to basketball games? And it doesn’t occur to anybody that this might not be a good look when you’re playing a predominantly black Lawrence North team?

Even if they meant nothing by it — their athletic director says the gorilla suits are routine at BNL games — an adult has got to have enough intelligence and sensitivity to say, “No, not tonight.’’

• I’m loving the D’Qwell Jackson signing; now go get Eric Decker.

Jackson is a tackling machine and a major, major upgrade on the guys the Colts used last year to pair with Jerrell Freeman. Expensive? Yes. But there were several other teams who were ready to pay that much, or more.

I feel badly for Pat Angerer, whose career started with so much promise, only to disintegrate because of injuries. My hope is he gets healthy and finds a spot elsewhere in this unforgiving league.

For Ryan Grigson’s next trick, he needs to sign Broncos free agent wide receiver Decker. While everybody hopes Reggie Wayne comes back to his old form, his age and his surgery suggest he won’t be the same old Reggie when he returns. Decker is a bigger receiver and a perfect target for Andrew Luck. Decker has got to decide, does he want two more years with Peyton Manning, or a long career with Luck? I’d take the latter, and the money.

• Adam Vinatieri and most kickers hate it; I like it. I’m talking about the rule that would move PAT’s to the 25 yard line.

If anything, it would enhance the value of top kickers and earn them more cash. Right now, the PAT is the dullest, most insignificant play in football, a virtual sure thing, an excuse to hit the restroom or run to the concession stand. It would also make coaches more likely to go for the two-point conversion, which would add another layer of excitement, and second-guessing, to the game.

• My heart goes out to Purdue’s Jay Simpson, who learned this week that his athletic career is over because of an enlarged heart. I’m sure he’s devastated by the news, but in time, he’ll understand just how lucky he was that a doctor found the problem before something terrible happened, as it happened to Hank Gathers. Here’s hoping he gets his degree from that great school and goes on to live a long, healthy, productive life.